Thursday, 28 February 2013

Today, 2-1 learned about one useful way to get to know their users - through Observation!

Before letting them out into the field, we provided them with a tool to guide their observations - the "What-How-Why" tool from the d.school Bootcamp Bootleg.

Armed with their observation worksheets, 2-1 descended on the canteen, where they observed their selected users - unsuspecting teachers having lunch! The students relished the opportunity to be the ones this time scrutinising their teachers' every movement and expression.

However, being first-time observers, their skills could do with a little honing. As time went by, they looked less like unobtrusive observers, and more and more like vultures lurking too obviously on the periphery of the scene. After giving them one too many suspicious glances, teachers started to leave rather than be subjected to further eyeballing.

2-1 enjoyed the experience tremendously, and came away with some insightful observations. Some even went so far as to eavesdrop (a little clumsily) on their teachers' conversations! All in all, a good introduction to the difficult but fascinating experience of design thinking fieldwork.

Thursday, 21 February 2013

As part of their introduction to Design Thinking, 2-1 got a crash course over 3 weeks on the idea of empathy.

First, they explored empathy boxes, collections of photos, mementos and knick-knacks that were artifacts from an unknown user's life. Each group was tasked with building a story about the user using each artifact as an element in the narrative.

The teams had a great time constructing stories about their unknown user. Many stories were globe-spanning histories involving families, love and unique experiences.

On hindsight, we would provide more explicit instructions for the groups to create stories about "real" people - one group spun a story about Santa Claus!

Thursday, 14 February 2013

On 14 Feb, 2-1 had their first taste of the Design Thinking problem solving process. They were tasked with the challenge of designing a school bag to meet the needs of their class buddies. Rather than asking direct questions about the school bag, 2-1 was told to begin by getting to know their buddies all over again by finding out about exactly what their buddies "need" and how they would like to "feel". Students had great fun during this interview process and they seemed to have gotten to know their class buddies much better.

After discovering their buddies' needs, it became clear that the goal of this challenge was not about the school bag at all, in fact they could design anything, limited only by their creativity, so long to meet the needs of the users. When it was time to prototype their products, 2-1 rose to the challenge with enthusiasm! Everyone promptly began to search for appropriate materials for creating their designed products.

It was commendable that students demonstrated team work and cooperation with one another even as they were working under time pressure to complete the task. Well done indeed!

Once having obtained suitable prototyping materials, 2-1 dived into the creation process dutifully.

After around 20 minutes of labour, most of the products were finished. There was a wide variety of designs, many of which demonstrated creativity, and more importantly, the thoughtfulness to meet the real needs of their buddies.

Sample students' work:

Keng Swee needs a way to carry all his items with him in a way that makes them feel safe

My prototype is a very light lock to lock his bag so that he will have all his items kept safely with him. The lock is very light so it would not add extra weight to his bag.

Reyaaz needs a way to protect his uniform from getting wet in the rain in a way that makes him feel cool.

Megan needs to improve in her studies by paying attention in class. The design is based on a mechanism which will tend to wake her up during lessons whenever she falls asleep. It actually consists of a cup, a follower(supported)in the shape of a cute rabbit with a few dialogues and a bell attached to the end of the follower.

The speeches of the rabbit are to encourage her not to sleep in class, stay calm and continue to carry on. The follower is attached to a bell because students or teachers can push the follower up and down in order for the bell to ring.

At the end of the session, students proudly shared the design of their products with their friends and the teachers. It was a great start to 2-1's Design Thinking M.A.D. journey!

On 14 Feb, 2-1 had their first taste of the Design Thinking problem solving process. They were tasked with the challenge of designing a school bag to meet the needs of their class buddies. Rather than asking direct questions about the school bag, 2-1 was told to begin by getting to know their buddies all over again by finding out about exactly what their buddies "need" and how they would like to "feel". Students had great fun during this interview process and they seemed to have gotten to know their class buddies much better.

After discovering their buddies' needs, it became clear that the goal of this challenge was not about the school bag at all, in fact they could design anything, limited only by their creativity, so long to meet the needs of the users. When it was time to prototype their products, 2-1 rose to the challenge with enthusiasm! Everyone promptly began to search for appropriate materials for creating their designed products.

It was commendable that students demonstrated team work and cooperation with one another even as they were working under time pressure to complete the task. Well done indeed!

Once having obtained suitable prototyping materials, 2-1 dived into the creation process dutifully.

After around 20 minutes of labour, most of the products were finished. There was a wide variety of designs, many of which demonstrated creativity, and more importantly, the thoughtfulness to meet the real needs of their buddies.

Sample students' work:

Keng Swee
needs a way to carry all his items with him in a way that makes them feel
safe

My prototype is a very light lock to lock his bag so that he will have all his
items kept safely with him. The lock is very light so it would not add extra
weight to his bag.

Reyaaz
needs a way to protect his uniform from getting wet in the rain in a way that
makes him feel cool.

Megan
needs to improve in her studies by paying attention in class. The design is
based on a mechanism which will tend to wake her up during lessons whenever she
falls asleep. It actually consists of a cup, a follower(supported)in the shape
of a cute rabbit with a few dialogues and a bell attached to the end of the
follower.

The speeches of the rabbit are to encourage her not to sleep in class, stay
calm and continue to carry on. The follower is attached to a bell because
students or teachers can push the follower up and down in order for the bell to
ring.

At the end of the session, students proudly shared the design of their products with their friends and the teachers. It was a great start to 2-1's Design Thinking M.A.D. journey!